Generally, when controlling a plurality of electrical appliances from a central controller, a process of distinguishing each electrical appliance should be carried out from the central controller prior to the controlling process. Therefore, a method of giving a unique identity (ID) to each electrical appliance is used herein.
In the related art multiple control system, shown in FIG. 1, each electronic appliance 3 is commonly connected to a network 2 through a communication line 1.
Also, a central controller 4 sends data to and receives data from each electronic appliance 3 through the network 2.
Each electronic appliance has a predetermined unique ID based on the appliance model. Herein, the number of bits for each model ID is identical. However, the corresponding values are all decided differently. More specifically, the ID values are decided so that each electronic appliance is given a unique ID. For example, one appliance may be given an ID value of ‘0000H’, whereas another appliance is given an ID value of ‘0001H’. Such ID value for each electronic appliance is pre-stored inside the central controller 4.
Therefore, when the central controller 4 gives out a certain operation command, the ID of the corresponding appliance is included in the actual command, which is transmitted through the network 2. Subsequently, each electronic appliance reads the data sent through the central controller 4. Then, the appliance having an ID value identical to that of the command executes the operation.
A plurality of electronic appliances of the same model may be connected to the multiple control system. If the ID's of at least two electronic appliances are determined to be identical, then, during a communication between the central controller 4 and the electronic appliances, the appliances having identical ID's may simultaneously respond on the network, which may eventually lead to a confusion in data.